What does a conveyancer do?

What is a conveyancer?

A conveyancer is a specialist professional who takes care of all the legal paperwork involved in transferring property from one person to another. They may also be referred to simply as your lawyer or solicitor.  

Lenders have lists of conveyancers that they are happy to work with; your broker or lender will advise you if your conveyancer is on the list or not, most are.  

What conveyancers do?

Your conveyancer will check all the aspects of your property out before you commit to buying it. They’ll also help resolve any issues that crop up during the process. 

You should keep in touch with your conveyancer to make sure this work moves along as quickly as possible. 

Your conveyancer will carry out the legal checks and searches that happen during a property sale.  These checks and searches are important. They help you understand all the information you need to know about a property before you commit to buying it. 

What are searches? 

Your solicitor or conveyancer will carry out various searches to check things like: 

• whether the property is connected to sewers
• who owns any access roads
• whether the land its built on is contaminated
• anything you need to know about in the local area, like new road schemes or enforcement actions the local council are taking

What is land and property registration? 

When the sale completes, your solicitor or conveyancer will register your details with the Land Registry. This registers your ownership of the house.  

Land and property are dealt with by HM Land Registry in England and Wales, Registers of Scotland in Scotland, and Land and Property Services in Northern Ireland.  

How much do conveyancers cost? 

The cost of the searches and registration are fixed. The legal fees for your conveyancer’s time and effort to do the work will vary. Most conveyancers have a fixed price which depends on the value of the property.